At the time of British India - Mangwal was part of Chakwal tehsil and Chakwal was an important tehsil of Jhelum district. While, rest of the residents of other tehsils were referred as Jhelumi or jhelumis - Residents of Chakwal were particularly called Chakwalias. Aboriginals of Mangwal belonged to the ferocious Khokhar tribe and with onset of religious boundaries got divided between Hindus/ Sikhs and Muslims. In 1947 the lone Hindu family (Bali - Punjabi Pandits) and all Sikh Khokhars migrated to various parts of India. Mangwal lost about 70% of its population. Mangwal is also famous for its special way of cooking rice, the rice thus cooked is called Mangwalia.